1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to connectors for battery booster cables of the type which can be used with side terminal batteries.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, many automobile manufacturers have changed from using batteries with top terminals to using batteries with side terminals, with the result that both types of batteries are now in use. Batteries with side mounted terminals, when set in an engine compartment, are normally set very close to other component parts so as to minimize space consumption or for other related reasons. Conventional booster cable clamps are either not very convenient for use to clamp, or cannot be clamped at all, onto side mounted battery terminals when the battery is set in the engine compartment, usually below the fender.
A number of side terminal adapters have been proposed to deal with this problem. U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,415 to Lee discloses a conductive charging clip which is set along an inclined sliding way on one of the two clamping jaw elements constituting a jumper cable clamp. The charging clip can be conveniently pulled out for operation or retracted back to be received inside the jaw element. The clip is essentially a flat conducting clamp having an opening at a middle part thereof, defining two gripping plates each with recesses of various sizes formed along the inside surface of the gripping plates and aligned so as to cooperate in pairs along the length of the opening. In the patented construction, the clip is provided with two terminal-receiving slots defined by the communicating pairs of holes formed on the gripping plates, each slot accommodating a specific size terminal. During a charging operation, the clip is pulled out from the jaw element and the clip slid into engagement over, for example, one of two protruding side mounted terminals on the battery. As the terminal engages the front end of the clip, the clip yields outwardly at the opening to receive the terminal in an appropriate one of the two terminal-receiving slots.
For best electrical connection the terminal should be locked within the slot when engaged therewith. However, because the construction of the slots in the Lee patent is such as to circularly encase the terminal, the latter being generally of circular cylindrical construction and threaded, there is significant slippage of the clip relative to the clamp, thus permitting the clip to become separated from the terminal, or alternatively, to slip about the terminal into a position providing insufficient electrical conduction.
The Lee type clip is further disadvantageous as it is mounted to the jumper cable clamp in a very complicated manner, such as by way of tension springs and the like, providing retractable movement of the clip in only one direction, i.e., extending longitudinally with respect to the jumper cable clamp. It would be a further advancement in the art to provide a clip or side terminal adapter which can be coupled easily to a jumper cable clamp, either in a temporary or permanent manner, and which side terminal adapter can be optionally selected to project from the clamp in a non-longitudinal manner to facilitate sliding the adapter vertically over the battery terminal.